Experience the most visually stunning, vocally pleasing, and adaptively remarkable life forms on earth with RBG’s winter exhibit, Frogs!

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If you’ve never thought of frogs as beautiful, this exhibition will change your mind! Frogs! is a dynamic exhibit experience with two special exhibitions and daily, family-friendly activities where visitors of all ages can explore the wonderful world of frogs and their wetland homes.

Parking: Parking is included in your general admission, at 680 Plains Road W. Burlington Ontario.

Frogs – A Chorus of Colours

Frogs – A Chorus of Colours introduces visitors to the amazing and colorful world of frogs. These amphibians are among the most visually stunning, vocally pleasing, and adaptively remarkable life forms on earth. If you’ve never thought of frogs as beautiful, this exhibition will change your mind!

Frogs: A Chorus of Colours is produced by Peeling Productions.

American Bullfrog

Bullfrogs are named for their loud, deep mating calls. They eat insects, fish, birds, snakes, baby turtles and other frogs. Bullfrogs are native to the eastern North America, but they have been released west of the Rocky Mountains where they have devastated local populations of frogs and other small animals.

Tadpoles

Most frogs begin life as fish-like tadpoles. Tadpoles exist to eat and grow and later sprout legs and lose their tails. This change from tadpole to frog is called metamorphosis.

Smooth-sided Toad

Although they have no teeth, smooth-sided toads are bold predators. They catch prey with long, sticky tongues and swallow it alive. Some large toads eat almost anything they can fit in their mouths including mice, birds, snakes, and other frogs.

Chinese Gliding Frog

These beautiful tree frogs have enlarged webbing between the toes. When leaping between branches or escaping toward the ground, the toes spread and the webbing acts like a parachute. Although no frogs can truly fly, gliding frogs can soar and land gracefully from daunting heights.

African Clawed Frog

These bizarre frogs look like they have been flattened in a traffic accident. They stand upright underwater with forearms outstretched and wait for food. When a fish swims near the frog, it opens its mouth, causing an inrush of water. It uses its front legs to stuff the prey down its throat.

Amazon Milk Frog

Milk frogs are named for a sticky white substance they secrete from their skins. These beautiful tree frogs often live high in the rainforest canopy and reproduce in water-filled tree holes.

Ornate Horned Frog

These opportunistic hunters sport intricate patterns of brown, green, red, and black markings that provide camouflage against the leaf litter of a rainforest floor. They pounce on a passing prey animal with remarkable speed, eating mice, beetles, snakes and other frogs. During dry periods, they encase themselves in a thick layer of dead skin.

Borneo Eared Frog

The toe pads of these frogs are covered with tubular cells standing on end. These tiny bristles compress and bend under pressure, allowing the toe pad to “form-fit” over irregular surfaces. Mucus on the tips of the bristles allows them to stick to almost anything. These frogs can climb straight up trees, cling to the undersides of leaves, or hang preposterously from a branch by one toe.

Fire-bellied Toad

These mostly aquatic creatures have the warty skin of a toad, but swim and require moisture like pond frogs. When in groups, fire-bellied toads are often seen in amplexus, the mating posture where males grasp females around the waist to fertilize eggs. These frogs use skin colours for protection. The back side of the toad is green and black, providing camouflage from above. When disturbed, they throw their legs into the air revealing a bright red “fire belly” to startle the intruder.

Waxy Monkey Frog

South American monkey frogs climb through trees with grasping feet. The waxy monkey frog is unusual in its preference for hot, dry conditions. By recycling water in its kidneys, the frog is able to avoid expelling precious moisture in the form of urine. It also gives itself a rubdown with a waxy secretion to limit water loss through the skin.

Poison Dart Frogs

Poison Dart Frogs from the rainforests of the Americas come in a dizzying array of colors and patterns. Some are used by native tribes to poison the tips of blowdarts for hunting. Complex compounds in the skin secretions of dart frogs are now being studied by scientists for potential medical use. These hopping pharmacies have already provided a possible substitute for morphine which is non-addictive and 100 times more potent.

Smokey Jungle Frog

These tropical American frogs have impressive size and bulk. The meat from their powerful hind legs is prized throughout their range as a delicacy known locally as ‘mountain chicken’. When disturbed, they open their mouths and produce a loud “squawk”.

African Bullfrog

These large bullfrogs grow up to eight inches in diameter and can live for 40 years. They eat almost anything – insects, small mammals, and even other frogs! The male African Bullfrog guards the eggs and tadpoles during development.

Mexican Leaf Frog

The adult Mexican Leaf frog grows up to 100 mm in length, with an overall dorsal colour of green with scattered white spots. This species has enlarged toes and golden eyes, and females are larger than males. They eat mainly insects and are nocturnal, spending the day in sheltered burrows or under stones or logs.

Asian Tree Toad

Pedostibes hosii is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. They are found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and rivers.

The Frog Pond

With leaping frogs to slithering snakes, wetlands are home to a wide diversity of plants and animals. Hop on over to The Frog Pond to meet some of the wetland species found at Royal Botanical Garden and discover their important roles in sustaining a healthy environment.

Grab your P.J.s and your favourite amphibian plushie! Frogs! will be open late, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., on three Friday evenings. Join us for activities, games, and, of course, everyone's favourite amphibians, all included in your general admission or RBG membership. Read more